Established as the annual experimental music festival of Ancienne Belgique – one of the most beloved institutions in the Brussels scene – BRDCST once again delivered an impressive and kaleidoscopic line-up for its 2025 edition.

In a city already overflowing with events catering to nearly every niche of underground and experimental music, BRDCST stands out thanks to the breadth of its programming and the curiosity of its audience – one of the most genuinely open-minded around.

Part of the festival’s distinctiveness comes from its collaborative approach to curation. A significant portion of the line-up was left in the hands of three remarkable artists: Anna Von Hausswolff, Backxwash, and Colin Stetson. The result was a weekend of genre-defying, boundary-pushing performances – all impressively unified by their quality and artistic commitment. 

Ranking such a diverse array of shows isn’t easy, but here are five performances that stood out.

Dame Area

The first night of BRDCST was a whirlwind of high-energy acts — from the metal-tinged avant-pop of Anna Von Hausswolff to the post-jazz chaos of Błoto — but Dame Area may have delivered the most powerful set of all.

The Barcelona-based duo channel a hard-hitting blend of post-punk urgency, industrial textures, and electronic experimentation. Their distinctive sound translates perfectly to a live format, centred on hypnotic percussion and on Silvia Konstance’s volcanic vocal performance.

The duo performs like they need it to function, to survive, generating a sonic explosion where lyrics (in Spanish and Italian) resonate as teachings and manifestos. Dame Area’s music is as political and inflammatory as it gets, while keeping an impressive focus on sound innovation and experimentation that allowed them to stand out in an already stacked line-up. An unmissable performance.

Violent Magic Orchestra

Since deconstructed club and hyperpop took the music scene by storm more than a decade ago, the blending of trance, hardcore, black metal, Y2K aesthetics, and pop has been explored from every angle. Many projects have followed this path, making it harder to find something truly new.

Thankfully, Japanese band Violent Magic Orchestra did just that, pushing this aesthetic to its breaking point. They went the accelerationist way about it: their music brings every sound and cultural reference to its extreme. What sets VMO apart from similar acts is the authenticity they put in every note, in stark contrast with the slight irony that coats other similar acts. Vocalist Xasthur’s stunning performance was the cherry on top of this chaotic, unforgettable set, met with a standing ovation and a long line at the merch table.

Blackhaine

When Blackhaine (a.k.a. Tom Heyes) took the stage at BRDCST, the contrast with VMO’s maximalist setup couldn’t have been more striking. The stage was almost empty, save for the DJ booth in one corner and Heyes himself at the centre. His outfit was equally stark: all black T-shirt, jeans, and jacket.

That was the first sign of what was about to unfold before our eyes: a raw, violent, theatrical piece that fused avant-garde dance, industrial rap, noise, acting, and overwhelming emotion. Heyes delivered one of the most cathartic live experiences of the weekend, channeling rage and pain in a way that left the audience hanging onto every bar like they were gasping for air.

Backxwash

Zambian-Canadian rapper Backxwash curated Saturday’s remarkable lineup in the AB Flex room, where she also delivered one of the weekend’s most breathtaking performances. Her dark, heavy fusion of horrorcore rap and industrial chaos sparked the only mosh pits we witnessed at BRDCST.

Her vocal presence was commanding, her flow impeccable. Delivering a politically charged set that boldly confronted topics such as race, identity, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Backxwash held nothing back. Infused with religious and satanic references, her performance dove headfirst into the world’s darkness – only to pull the listener back up, renewed, aware, empowered. An ode to art’s necessity.

10¹⁷

Sunday was Colin Stetson’s day. The American saxophonist curated part of the lineup and performed a solo show, a duet with Francesco Donadello, a track with Shida Shahabi, and another set with his brand-new project 10¹⁷.

10¹⁷, a group formed by Stetson with Stian Westerhus and Erland Dahlen, delivered what turned out to be the most groundbreaking performance of the day. This was unexpected, given that the saxophonist-guitarist-drummer setup seemed to suggest a more “traditional” act – especially in contrast to the sonic explorations of Stetson’s solo set and the heavy drones of his duet with Donadello. But that wasn’t the case at all: the group, which has yet to officially release any material, gifted the audience a standard-setting performance, moving fluidly from Radiohead and Bowie influences to extreme sound experimentation, from psychedelic jazz to the softest ambient atmospheres.

Stetson himself summed it up perfectly in a quote featured on the BRDCST website: “It’s not a static landscape that you’re interacting in. You have to innovate constantly. Which is what 10¹⁷ is all about.”